This application requests funding to support two functions at the annual meeting of the American Auditory Society (AAS). The AAS was founded in 1974 as a multi-disciplinary association whose mission is to foster dissemination of knowledge and exchange of information about hearing and balance among professionals in Otolaryngology, Hearing Science, Audiology, and the Hearing Industry. Since 1999 we have held our own stand-alone conferences. These meetings have been well attended (~200 attendees each year) and represent a unique opportunity to share the latest applied and clinical research in otolaryngology, audiology, and prosthetic development in a small meeting venue. The requested funding for the AAS meeting is for support of a lecture series in translational research and a poster session for mentored doctoral and post doctoral (Otolaryngology resident) research. Both functions were funded by an NIH conference grant for the first time last year, and this meeting was highly successful. The purpose of the translational research lectures is to facilitate the transfer of basis research findings into clinical application. While there are excellent meetings for basic research in these fields, fewer opportunities exist for the presentation of rigorous clinical research and there is no one venue for the integration for both basic and applied research. The purpose of the Mentored Research Poster Session is to promote the future of our disciplines through recognition and mentorship of doctoral students in Audiology and applied research in Otolaryngology. There has been a constant decline in the number of Ph.D. audiology graduates (69% fewer since 1990) and increasingly fewer of those graduates enter academic or research careers. Research by clinician scientists in Otolaryngology has also declined in recent years. We propose a poster session venue designed to showcase doctoral student and resident research and encourage individual interaction with noted scientists and mentors in Audiology, Otolaryngology and Bioengineering. The addition of theses speakers and student poster session will provide a unique opportunity for the integration of basic scientific study to be presented in a format which will encourage its application to clinical practice and which will promote future research in Hearing Science and Audiology. [unreadable] [unreadable]